The importance of the global dairy markets

President of New Zealand-based Nui Markets North America, Ron O'Brien, spoke with Lee Mielke from Dairy Radio Now about the importance of global dynamics for local producers and end users here in the USA.

“Global markets are increasingly important to U.S. dairy farmers. International markets have never been more interdependent than they are currently and changes to dairy supply and demand in Europe and Asia or movements on the GDT, NZX, or European indexes for dairy all directly influence the local market, as well as other external factors such as interest rates, currency rates, energy availability, and water availability.”

In his previous role, O'Brien traded for one of the world's largest dairy trading firms "Essentially what we did was arbitrage those markets. As a professional trading firm, you’ll take advantage of these ebbs and flows," he said, "but what if you're not an international trading firm but a local U.S. producer or end user? Knowing volatility is a certainty and margins are tight, if not non-existent, what can be done to minimize risk?"

He says the answer lies in better access to better data and information - which is why he’s so excited about what he’s doing with Nui. “Digitalizing the physical dairy trading market is critical to help end-users and processors with transparency and better data. With better information, users can make better decisions, and with better decisions, come better results."

“The geo-political risks in Europe aren't going anywhere, Knowing drought risk isn't going anywhere, knowing that China in and out of the market is going to be commonplace, we have to prepare ourselves and protect our margins from these forces off our shores. That starts with digitising trade so that you have access to that better data.”

Listen to the broadcast here: Ron O'Brien on the Dairy Radio Now broadcast